Three Saultites receive award nominations

Three Sault Ste. Marie artists received some very happy news today.

Filmmaker Lee Chambers, musician and engineer Rusty McCarthy, and band Kalle Mattson (shown) all learned that they'd been nominated for Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards.

Chambers, who teaches film studies at Confederation College and runs the Make It Short Film Project, has worked with producers Denys Arcand, Paul Haggis, Andrew Currie, David Cronenberg, and Roger Corman.

He's nominated for best screenwriter along with Kris Ketonen for their screenplay The Sum of Random Choice at the 7th annual Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards.

McCarthy received a nomination for best engineer for the second year in a row.

In 2009, he was chosen as a finalist for engineering his own release, Dirty River, as well as MD Dunn and the Clay Rooster Band's self-titled album.

Kalle Mattson received a nod for best album by a duo or group for the band's first full-length release Whisper Bee, and front man Kalle Wainio is nominated for best songwriter for the track A to Z.

Although three of the four members of Kalle Mattson have relocated to Ottawa for school, the band manages to play together often, locally and elsewhere.

This is it's first award nomination.

"We've had some other rewarding things happen, like being mentioned on Canadian music blog The Mad One's top 50 songs of 2009, but this is a first for us," drummer Jimmie Chiverelli told SooToday.com.

In addition to this nomination excitement, Kalle Mattson recently learned it was chosen to perform during Canadian Music Week (CMW) in Toronto next week.

"We have a manager, Sarah Bisch, who really helped getting us in with the festival," said Chiverelli. "It's so incredible to be a part of something so great."

Kalle Mattson will be part of a CMW artist showcase at The Central in Toronto on Wednesday, March 10.

In May, the band will embark on a three-week tour out to the Maritimes and back, beginning at Loplops on May 6 and ending at Foggy Notions on May 29.

To learn more about Kalle Mattson, click here

For more information about Rusty McCarthy, click here

Everything Lee Chambers can be found on his official website

Music and Film in Motion will host the 7th annual Music and Film Awards ceremony on Saturday, May 1 in Sudbury at Laurentian University.

For a complete list of 2010 Northern Ontario Music and Film Award nominees, please click here